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Lamplighter
"There’s no sight more beautiful than the sun rising over the streets of Altdorf… ah… bed time!" Basic (SoA) The Empire’s largest cities have a wonder seen nowhere else in the Old World: the streetlamp. They are used to illuminate the major streets and thoroughfares, particularly in wealthy neighborhoods. Altdorf was the first city to install streetlamps and those surrounding the Emperor’s Palace are particularly ornate. Lamplighters are responsible for maintaining the streetlamps and lighting them each night as dusk falls. They carry a variety of candles and matches and some even use the slow burning matches common to firearms. City dwellers are proud of their streetlamps, seeing them as symbols of sophistication and civilisation. Such is the threat of fire in the closely packed buildings that interfering with the lamplighters is punishable by death. Note: If you are rolling randomly for your Starting Career, you can substitute Lamplighter for Burgher with your GM’s permission. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Common Knowledge (the Empire), Consume Alcohol or Drive, Gossip, Haggle, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface Talents: Excellent Vision or Savvy, Flee!, Street Fighting Trappings: Lamp Oil, 20 Matches, Storm Lantern, Tinderbox, 8 Wax Candles, 10’ Lamplighter’s Pole Career Entries Charcoal-Burner, Peasant, Rat Catcher, Servant Career Exits Agitator, Burgher, Entertainer, Initiate, Servant, Smuggler, Toll Keeper, Watchman The Lamper’s Tasks Each district of a city has its own lamplighter, or lamper as he is known. He begins his daily round at dawn, when he patrols his route, snuffing out the streetlamp candles using a small hook on the end of the long pole that is the hallmark of his profession. He makes a mental note of any candles that need replenishing, or streetlamps that require repairing, and returns later in the day with a ladder and the necessary candles or tools to fix the problem. The lamper is otherwise unengaged during daylight hours, and takes this chance to catch up on his sleep. Just before dusk, his tasks begin again, when he relights the streetlamps under his supervision, using a wick on the other end of his lamper’s pole. He is expected to patrol the streets to ensure that the lamps remain lit. On stormy days, he may have to regularly relight candles snuffed out by a relentless wind. Winter, with its long, cold nights, is a particularly hard time for lamplighters. Because of their night-time activity, the watch makes extensive use of lamplighters as an extra pair of eyes against crime, but this only serves to make lamplighters a target for the murderous thieves who haunt the night-time streets. The Festival of Light At dusk, during the Autumn and Winter Equinox festivals, lamplighters undertake a solemn procession through the streets of the Empire’s cities, bearing lanterns aloft on their poles, decorated with colourful string and ribbons. They light the wicks of their lanterns using the sacred flame that burns before the altar of Verena, and are blessed by the temple’s priests as lightbringers, tasked with the sacred duty of banishing the darkness of the winter months. Many townsfolk flock to witness the glittering sight of the lampers’ march, and much revelry follows in its wake. The procession winds its way through all the major streets of the city, and the lampers light the streetlamps as they go. When the march has come full circle, stopping at the gates to Verena’s temple, onlookers eagerly count the number of wicks still burning. If no flame has gone out, then the gods have blessed the city with good fortune in the coming year. If most of the wicks have lost their flame, the new year promises woe and privation.